Crossings’ events clog traffic but roundabout not the answer

Q: I love The Crossings in Colonie. It’s a great park and I understand the desire to hold many fundraising walks/events, etc. there. But when there is an event going on and I’m traveling west on Albany Shaker Rd. towards Wolf Rd, I am often stuck through at least 7 cycles of the traffic light as people try to turn left into the park. I’m no fan of traffic circles, but this would seem to be a logical place for one to eliminate backed up traffic to a park with only one entrance. I suppose a left turn arrow could also help to minimize delays. Any chance for things to be improved here?

— B.J. Aviza, Albany

A: There isn’t room there to create a roundabout, said Colonie’s Public Works Commissioner Jack Cunningham.

“Albany Shaker Road at this intersection is a county road,” he said. “The town has recognized the bottleneck that occurs at this intersection when there is an event at the Crossings, and we have been working with Albany County to consider the options available to improve traffic flow at this intersection. There is not sufficient right-of-way at this intersection to construct a roundabout or a turn lane.”

Cunningham added that installing a turn signal without a turn lane creates a new set of traffic flow problems.

“We are continuing to evaluate this situation to come up with a cost effective approach to eliminate this bottleneck,” he said.

Tim O'Brien

4 Responses

So is it a city councilman who lives at that intersection? Politically connected friend? Has the PWC Cunningham forgotten about eminent domain? Taking a fraction of the local landowner’s plots would allow the town to alleviate the traffic issues.

What happened o all the money spent on design and impact studies ?
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to have figured a major park with one entrance/exit on a two lane country road just might have caused a very serious traffic problem. Hope the emergency vehicles from the fire dept just up the road don’t have a call when an event is being held in the park – they will never be able to get thru to the intersecion.

1) Make the left you are referring to prohibited. There is a back entrance to the Crossings off of Wolf Road. Connect this back entrance to the main road (there is already a path people have created for this). This way traffic can flow in and out of the Crossings on one dedicated road…..we can then name it Paula Blvd!

Paula Blvd. would then allow traffic to flow easier into the park and also ease congestion coming out of the park with two directions of possible travel.